The Gratiot was located in Roseville, Michigan. This elaborate theater, with its cascading waterfall on the front of the screen tower, opened in 1948. By the 1950s, such drive-in theaters had become part of American culture. Drive-ins promised movies at a cheap price, to be enjoyed by families or teenage couples from the comfort of their own automobiles.

Cars and Movies

The combination of cars and movies was the brilliant idea of thirty-year old Richard Hollingshead, Jr., of Riverton, New Jersey. (Some sources attribute his mother as being the inspiration, because she found theater seats too uncomfortable.). Hollingshead experimented in his backyard by tacking a projection screen on a tree and mounting a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car. A radio was placed behind the screen for sound. An important hurdle to overcome: visibility. Cars could not be directly parked behind other cars. Hollingshead designed a configuration that varied the distance between cars and placed blocks and ramps under the front wheels of the cars further away from the screen. These terraced ramps were instrumental to the patent (Patent # 1,909,537.) that Hollingshead received on May 16, 1933. Hollingshead then formed a company – Park-In Theaters, Inc. – with Willie Warren Smith, his first cousin.

Hollingshead and Smith built the Automobile Movie Theater (known as the Drive-In Theater) on Crescent Boulevard in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey (Some sources give a Camden address, but the theater was built just over the town line.). Its first movie, Wives Beware(1932) opened on June 6, 1933. In 1936, Hollingshead sold his drive-in, and the operation moved to Union, New Jersey. Factors that contributed to the sale: the high cost of film rental, problems with sound synchronization, and insects.

Drive-In Boom

Retaining his interest in Park-In Inc., Hollingshead felt he would enjoy steady income from licensing fees. Unfortunately, other entrepreneurs were ready to thwart this plan by questioning the legality of his patent. After years of legal morass, Hollingshead lost when the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the patent “was not inventive at all, but a mere facsimile of the layout an indoor Theater utilized, only having cars instead of seats. The terracing of vehicles was deemed to be a mere adoption of the sloped floor in a Theater auditorium and was an obvious design, not novel in any way.” The Drive-In Theater patent was overturned in 1949 (See: Water Winter Wonderland: Drive-In History).

The demise of this patent and technical innovation in sound quality led to a United States drive-in boom, particularly in rural areas. While statistics vary, it appears that by 1955, Americans could enjoy the outdoor movie experience at about four thousand venues throughout the country. Some of these were huge, ready to accommodate thousands of cars, provide concession stands and offer additional fun, such as amusement park rides or playgrounds. Others were more modest in screen size and number of automobiles served. Some were so basic that the movie was shown by a 16mm projector. The Gratiot Drive-In boasted a waterfall illuminated by colored lights. If the cartoon and main attraction did not entice you onto the grounds, perhaps the water would. The cost of construction is estimated at $400,000. Car capacity: one thousand. It operated from April 30, 1948 until Labor Day, September 3, 1984.

End of an Era

The Gratiot, like many others, closed because of economic factors. American movie habits tended toward indoor multiplexes or the video stores. In addition, monolithic drive-ins were taking up expensive real estate that could be developed for more lucrative retail business ventures. The Gratiot Drive-In was demolished on the same day that the Detroit Tigers won the 1984 World Series (October 14, 1984). While others were celebrating the victory by cruising up and down Gratiot Avenue, Joe Niedzielski was using his 1958 Edsel to salvage the heavy steel letters of the Gratiot Drive-In sign. You can read a 2004 blog post from Joe Niedzielski at http://www.michigandriveins.com/gratiot82.asp